Writer John Carlin Publishes Harsh Opinion Column Against Lionel Messi As Saudi Tourism Ambassador

Leo Messicaptain of the Argentine national team and considered one of the best soccer players in history, received harsh criticism from the British writer, John Carlin, who on many occasions had declared his fanaticism for the soccer player born in Rosario.

Carlin’s questions expressed in a column in the newspaper La Vanguardia, are due to the economic relations that the Argentine decided to have with the representatives of the Saudi Arabian government, accused of crimes. The text is entitled: “Open letter to a mercenary.”

“Come on, Leo, come on. Go see the widow of the dismembered Khashoggi, knock on the door of the parents of Mustafa Hashem al Darwish, whose son had his head cut off for having participated in a protest against the Saudi regime when he was 16 years old, the same age as you when you debuted for Barça. Go talk to the families of the 81 people your new best friends just executed, all beheaded in one day, Saturday, March 12.”.

“I confess that the one who feels ashamed is me. A lot. When people asked me what team I was from, I had been saying for years that my team is you. Poor me – ridiculous me – I have said the following words more than once: “Messi is the closest thing I have to a religion”. Never more. As a footballer I never saw anyone better, no one who gave me more pleasure, for more years, with the ball at my feet. But as a person… I always harbored the suspicion that you were a boludito”.

“Don’t do it, Messi”, they begged you. “You have enormous power and with that power comes enormous responsibility. The Saudi regime wants to use you to whitewash its reputation… If you say yes to ‘Visit Saudi’ you are in effect saying ‘yes’ to all the human rights abuses happening in Saudi Arabia today. But if you say ‘no’ you will send an equally powerful message, that human rights are important”can be read in some of the paragraphs.

The text ends with the disappointment that Carlin claims to have: “No, sure not. Do not stop the party. Silver is silver, no matter where it comes from, right? Oh Leo, my fallen idol. I would like to say thank you for the memories. But you shit… on them and I can’t anymore”.